UNC Tar Heels rout Michigan State to win NCAA Tournament

Roy Williams and the Tar Heels celebrate winning the national championship on Monday night. (Lecka/Getty)

DETROIT - North Carolina brought the college basketball season full circle Monday night. The Tar Heels were the unanimous No.1 choice in both polls when the season began. And after dismantling Michigan State Monday night they were again No.1.

As it was in November, this is indisputable.

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North Carolina never trailed, opening a huge early lead and maintaining a margin of at least 13 points for the entire second half as it rolled to an 89-72 victory at Ford Field for its fifth national championship and first since 2005.

"There's something that's just right about it," said Tyler Hansbrough, one of the nets draped around his neck. "We were at the top when it started and we're at the top when it ends? Pretty great."

It looked like a hostile environment with more than two-thirds of the NCAA Tournament-record crowd of 72,922 pulling for the Spartans. After watching the Tar Heels dominate their team, 50,000-plus never sounded so quiet.

The victory completed an awesome tournament run for the Heels. North Carolina (34-4) won all six of its games by 12 points or more, a feat accomplished only by Indiana in 1981. The Tar Heels never really got a scare.

"We won some great games in this tournament, but this is the one you want," Hansbrough said. "We had our doubters ... but there's nothing anyone can say to take away from this."

North Carolina's fifth title ties it with Indiana for third on the all-time list. Only UCLA (11) and Kentucky (seven) have won more crowns. The win should also wash away any remaining bitterness from its season-ending debacle against Kansas at last year's Final Four.

"We've been working so hard and pushing since we fell short last year," said Wayne Ellington, who had 19 points, including 17 on 7-for-9 shooting in the first half when the game was decided. "I wanted to redeem myself for that. I think we all did."

Monday night's triumph gave several Tar Heels a fitting ending to great careers. Hansbrough, winner of nearly every individual award he was eligible for, no longer will be ridiculed for not winning a title. Lawson and Ellington were rewarded for foregoing the NBA draft to seek the national championship that had eluded them. Each described his move as "the best decision of my life."

And Danny Green, the senior from North Babylon, L.I., and Manhasset's St. Mary's High, got the storybook ending he hoped to share with his father. Danny Green Sr. was arrested in a drug sting and served 22 months in prison, missing most of his son's college career. He was there to share his son's finest basketball moment.

"Having my father here means a whole lot to me," Green said before racing off the court and into the crowd to find him.

Michigan State (31-7) carried the feel-good story line of the tournament to its final day. But the Spartans were not able to accomplish their goal of winning a title and maybe, at least briefly, easing the pain for an economically ravaged city and state. They committed 14 of their 20 turnovers in the first half.

Lawson had 21 points and an NCAA Tournament-record eight steals, Hansbrough had 18 points and Ed Davis came off the bench to add 11 points and eight rebounds. For Michigan State, Goran Suton had 17 points and Kalin Lucas scored 14.

The Spartans had vowed that Monday night would look nothing like the teams' regular-season meeting on Dec.3, when UNC rolled to a 98-63 win in the same building. They were right: it looked worse.

North Carolina led by 10 after only four minutes and had the Spartans in a 20-point hole midway through the first half. Carolina scored on 12 of its first 14 possessions and the margin got as big as 24 points before the Tar Heels went to halftime up 55-34.

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"It was a blur, those first five minutes when they jumped on us so fast," the Spartans' Travis Walton said. "North Carolina is an excellent team. They have no weaknesses ... they have like five-six NBA players."

The only part of the night that belonged to Michigan State was the introductions. With the Lansing campus just 92 miles away, Spartans fans turned out in droves. More than two-thirds of the record crowd came to support the "home" team. The noise when State was introduced was nearly deafening.

Lucas said Sunday that North Carolina would need a "a great opening five minutes" to take the crowd out of the equation. That's exactly what the Tar Heels laid on them. When Hansbrough made a pair of free throws with 9:44 before halftime, it capped a 10-0 run that made it 34-11. There was barely a peep from the throng after that.

"We made a whole lot of shots," Ellington said. "We quieted them down and then we took care of business."